Factors affecting satisfaction with antenatal care services among pregnant women attending Mafiga health center in Morogoro municipality-Tanzania: evidence from a cross sectional study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Antenatal care (ANC) is the care a pregnant woman received during her pregnancy through a series of consultations with trained health care workers such as midwives and sometimes a doctor who specializes in pregnancy and birth. The importance of ANC is to ensure optimal health outcomes for the mother and her unborn baby. Pregnant women’s concerns, desires and views of health care services need to be explored carefully because of their potential impact on the utilization and satisfaction of ANC services. Information through pregnant women’s reviews has proven to be a successful way of strategic evaluation and improving the quality of health services. Recently pregnant women’s perceptions, views, and satisfaction with ANC services, in addition to the professional judgment, became recognized measures of the quality and innermost element of quality assurance programs. This study intended to assess factors affecting satisfaction with antenatal care services among pregnant women attending Mafiga health centre in Morogoro Municipality. Method: The study was descriptive cross – sectional study design using quantitative approach. This study included a total of 262 pregnant women attending ANC clinic at Mafiga health centre in Morogoro Municipal. A semi structured questionnaire consisting of open and closed ended questions was used to collect data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyze data. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association of independent and the dependent variables. A p-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 232(88.6%) were satisfied and 30 (11.4%) were dissatisfied with antenatal services. The logistic regression was used to assess socio-demographic factors associated with satisfaction on antenatal service. The age group 20-34years was almost four times likely to be satisfied with antenatal service provided OR 3.83(1.35-10.87) as compared to younger women of age group 17-19 years. On education level, mothers who attended primary, secondary or higher education had higher odds of satisfaction with antenatal service provided OR 5.62(1.74-18.14) P-value<0.01, 7.92(2.25-27.91) P-value<0.01and 3.33(0.53-20.91) P-value=0.20 respectively as compared to mothers who had no formal education. The study showed that, a few number 11.4% of antenatal mothers were not satisfied with care. Moreover, mother completed primary education 50.4%had higher odds of dissatisfaction compared to those of secondary education 39.3%. Conclusion: The study conclude that on factors assessed, the level of education and age showed significant relationship with satisfaction on antenatal care while others were not statistically significant. Therefore, this study concludes that mothers with no formal education were more likely to report satisfaction with antenatal care service compared to the mothers with higher education level. On recommendation, the Government in collaboration with District Medical Office should establish a good and service user friendly arrangement so as to facilitate the antenatal service accessibility.